


The Tempo of Love

by wujinxian



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Reveal, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-27
Updated: 2016-08-27
Packaged: 2018-08-11 09:48:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7886344
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wujinxian/pseuds/wujinxian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How Adrien Agreste fell in love.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Tempo of Love

**Author's Note:**

> Some violence, not too graphic.

He wasn't sure when it happened. When he fell in love with Marinette, that is. He'd always felt a sort of affinity with her, which may have been why he was so upset when she rejected his friendship at first. But the exact moment he fell in love with her he wasn't sure. 

Perhaps it was when Ladybug did something very Marinette: stuttering and stumbling over her words as she did whenever she talked to him, the Adrien version of him anyways. Oh, yes, he knew she was Ladybug. He wasn't sure when he realized that either. The more time he spent with them, the more he saw their similarities. Gradually, they had started to blend into one girl. He wasn't sure where Ladybug ended and Marinette began and vice versa. 

He remembered Marinette doing something very Ladybug, taking charge as she did. He had beamed at her with admiration. The words at the forefront of his brain and falling off his tongue before he knew it.

"As you wish, My Lady."

He hadn't meant to say it. Her voice and demeanor at that moment were so much like the superheroine's that he had surprised himself. Her, too, apparently. She had blushed fiercely, and her eyes darted around nervously. Though it seemed in the ruckus she had caused with her rousing speech, no one else had heard him. She left classroom quickly that day, and when an akuma struck later in the evening, Ladybug's eyes refused to meet those of his civilian self. 

Finally, the puzzle pieces that had been collecting and floating in the air fell together all in one piece, and he knew. Ladybug was Marinette. Marinette was Ladybug. They weren't two personalities in one person but instead a mixture of character traits, melded together with some more prominent behind the security of a mask or around the presence of friends. And he loved her. Oh, how he loved her. The clumsy yet confident girl. The skillful and levelheaded superhero. He loved all of her. 

That's why he was so scared when he saw that akuma blast her out of the sky, when she landed with a sickening crack with her limbs bent ways that human limbs should never be bent. Somehow, she had still managed to retrieve the item from the monster. She broke it and cleansed the black butterfly. He ran to her and held her in his arms. He watched in horror as the suit faded away before she could use the Miraculous Cure. Her eyes remained closed for a few moments longer until, suddenly, they opened as if she was awakening from a nightmare. 

Her scream.

Her barely human scream. It was like nails on a chalkboard. His stomach churned. It took all his mental effort not to hurl right then in there. Marinette needed him. He raced to get her to the nearest hospital, the beeping of his Miraculous urging him on. He hoped he wasn't shaking her around too much, but he knew the damage he was causing was better than her being dead.

Tears ran down his face as he remembered it all. The beeping of her heart monitor slowly brought him back to the present. Her steady heartbeat kept pace with the ticking of the clock, and the sound of her breath hitting the plastic mask on her face reassured him she was okay. He held her hand in his and rubbed it, trying to give her some of his warmth. Her skin was so smooth and soft. He curiously placed it against his cheek, accidentally wiping away the tears that were there, and nearly purred at the sensation. A small groan sounded, and he placed her delicate hand back on the bed without letting go. He watched her eyes carefully as they fluttered back to life. She saw him without seeing, still not quite focused. 

"A-Adrien?"

"Shh," he hushed. "I'm here, Princess. I'll always be here." 

"Chat?" 

"If I told you they were one and the same, My Lady?" he smiled and brought her hand to his lips. The tempo of the beeping increased from adagio to andante while his heart stopped. Would she accept him or reject him? Was she even lucid enough to know what he was saying?

"I'd tell you 'I knew it,'" she laughed weakly. 

"Well, aren't you an intelligent little bug," he teased her.

"And you a clever little cat," she sighed, clearly content. Her breathing leveled out again as her lids closed. He watched the numbers decline again to an even sixty beats per minute. Each peak on the screen made his eyelids feel heavier and heavier. He rested his head on the bed, telling himself he'd only be there for a minute. But even he was no match for the exhaustion that coursed through his body. There was only one thought in his mind as he gave himself up to the beast known as sleep: how much he loved this girl.


End file.
